Hit my 1000th balayage and I take back everything I said about foils

For years I swore foils were only for old school highlights and balayage had to be all freehand or it didn't count. Then last month I did my 1000th balayage since I started counting in 2019 and realized my first 400 or so were honestly kind of a mess. What changed it was a client with super thick hair who wanted that lived in look but had too much density for me to blend by painting alone. I finally caved and used foils on the back sections and the result was way more even and took half the time. Now I do a hybrid on most people and my bookings went up like 30% because the finished color actually holds up longer. Has anyone else switched their method after hitting some random milestone or was I just being stubborn about technique?